A New Paradigm: Wealth Advising For The Future

As an estate lawyer, how many times have I said under my breath to myself as my clients have exited the boardroom after an often lengthy, revealing, intense, and always interesting meeting: "I don't need a law degree – I need a psychology degree!"

I am sure my sentiment is shared by many others in the wealth advisory field. Striving to understand our client's objectives, motivations and mindset is always fascinating, and raises the need for a broad-based multidisciplinary approach. Many professional competencies are necessary to successfully provide advice on family succession, and the psychology of wealth plays an important and growing role as a distinct area.

When I first started practice, this was not the case. There was an over-emphasis on tax planning and saving tax in isolation from other objectives. Non-tax considerations were secondary, and often an afterthought in family succession and estate planning, or even ignored. While tax minimization objectives